The present invention is related to a bottle teat made from a soft elastic material.
Bottle teats serve for the nutrition of sucklings and infants. Known bottle teats have a hollow suction nipple and a circumferential mounting edge for fixation to a bottle opening on a drinking bottle. Since the mounting edge has a cross-section larger than that of the suction nipple, there is a hollow transition zone between the suction nipple and the mounting edge which expands from the suction nipple to the mounting edge. At its end region, the suction nipple has a drinking hole through which liquid can exit. A ventilation valve with a valve slot is often located within the transition zone. The bottle teat is fixed to the aperture edge of the drinking bottle by means of a threaded ring. To this end, the bottle teat is slid through the threaded ring until the mounting edge comes to sit below an annular flange of the threaded ring. The threaded ring is screwed onto an external thread of the drinking bottle, by which action the mounting edge is clamped between the opening edge of the bottle opening and the threaded ring. Likewise, it is known to realize the ventilation valve by suitable channels in the seat region of the mounting edge on the opening edge of the drinking bottle.
The infant can withdraw the liquid or other fluid food that is filled into the drinking bottle by sucking at the suction nipple. In this, food exits through the drinking hole and pressure compensation with the surroundings takes place via a ventilation valve.
The known bottle teats have the disadvantage that they only permit a small flow of the food that is to be provided. If the drinking hole is constructed too large, the liquid can flow out without obstruction and with no suction work performed by the infant. As a result, the infant is not trained in taking up food and the food might be spilled. Further, the take-up of food is restricted by the ventilation valve which limits the pressure balance.
From CH 357 149, a bottle teat is already known, with a drinking slot directed in the longitudinal direction of the suction nipple and extending from the outer side up to the inner side of the suction nipple in an outer end region of the suction nipple.
Starting from this, the present invention is based on the objective to provide a bottle teat made of a soft elastic material which permits an increased flow of the food that is to be provided, without adversely affecting the natural sucking process, and which still seals reliably and prevents any unintentional spill of food in an efficient way.